Productive Organizer

WebOS is an OS that i have least experience in and a search on softwares that tailors to Getting Things Done yields very little results other than our dear Evernote.

That is why its refreshing to see Outline Tracker for WebOS. I did not give this a spin since i do not have a Palm Pre or Pixi to try it out.

How much does it cost?

There is a free version on the App Catalog that limits you to 50 tasks but the full version costs USD23.50.

What version of WebOS is it compatible with?

You will need webOS 1.3.5

What are its main functionalities?

• Organize tasks and sub-tasks as many layers deep as you need
• Keep track of where you can work on a task and who’s responsible
• The dynamic to-do list shows only the tasks you can work on here and now
• Color-coding shows at a glance who’s responsible for a task — you, your organization, or no one
• The dynamic waiting list shows tasks that are waiting for action by someone else — a single tap takes you to their entry in the webOS Contacts application
• Items with a due date appear in the webOS Calendar and the project outline, and tasks appear in the dynamic to-do list as well
• Coordinate with others using Basecamp from 37signals (useable through any web browser, with custom apps available for many kinds of smartphone)
• Basecamp items are cached locally, so Basecamp projects can be edited without a network connection. Changes will be uploaded when the network connection is available.
• Supports David Allen’s Getting Things Done® methodology
• Also functions as a general-purpose outliner, exporting to (and importing from) the modern XOXO format, easily integrated into web pages

GTD – Able to Organize in tree structure

with this you can essentially create Tasks and Sub-Tasks or Sub-Projects

GTD – Able to filter by Contexts/Places

if you are to perform GTD you will need to be able to filter your tasks by places or agendas. This one does it but not sure if it can achieve the sophistication of Appigo ToDos context filtering. [context/places intro and tutorial >>]

GTD – Waiting for looks good!

You can review your waiting for list according to the people. Outline Tracker allows you to go to the Palm’s contacts when you click on the person’s name.

Very useful.

GTD – comprehensive task view and integration with webOS Calendar

This is a good move that i don’t see on alot of mobile apps on iPhone since you will need a fair bit of work to achieve this on the iPhone OS platform.

essentially, your items need not be tasks and need not have dates. this gives it flexibility, but also increases the developer’s complexity.

also, note seems to be missing if you want to add additionaly details.

the kicker is that those items with due date specified will go into your webOS calendar. some folks definitely love to have this in their GTD system.

Final Thoughts

i thought its abit expensive at $23 bucks but really not sure if all App Catalog application are priced at that range. I hope we come accross more apps like this to compete and come up with good GTD apps for the webOS.

At the iPhone App Store competition have kept the incumbents at the top of their game and we do hope to see more of these on the webOS.

[Outline tracker for Palm Pre and Pixi >>]

I came across this Windows desktop application that aim to follow the Getting Things Done to organize the information you come across in your daily lives.

I didn’t manage to give it a try but it does look very sophisticated, on the level of Mind Manager by Mindjet.

How much it cost?

its not free and the price might turn off a few people. it cost like USD197.

Who is it for?

Probably for people who have a windows desktop or laptop as their main GTD planning and collection center. Definitely not for me since i seldom have access to my personal computer.

What are its main functionality?

You would have to check out a very very detail walkthrough at Information Management Tool’s website. There it will show you how to Collect, Process, Organize and Review using their software

• flexible structure helps you to merge individual to-do lists, projects, articles into a strategic plan
• use the program for online research, journaling, to-do lists, note taking, document archiving, GTD and more.
• break down large projects into smaller parts using as many tree-levels as you need to keep everything in one place and under control
• use Wiki-hyperlinks to tasks, web pages, notes, to-do lists etc.
• capture web pages directly from the integrated Gecko Web Browser by Mozilla
• drag-and-drop notes, hyperlinks, files in appropriate place in the free-form database, reorganize your projects and tasks at any time
• reorganize your projects, to-do lists, ideas and tasks at any time you want
• find what you need when you need it using fast search
• create your own structure of GTD Trusted System, capture, organize and manage all your projects and tasks in the free-form central database
• real-time immediate save of all added information to the database
• fully customizable interface: more than 300 icons, custom colors and font formats to help you focus on what is most important
• capture any ideas, notes and edit them using full-featured Rich Text Editor
• recall items quickly with tagging
• align your time, effort and energy with your highest priorities so you can focus on what really matters most to you
• browse local files and forlders using integrated Folder Explorer
• work with multiple projects without feeling overwhelmed
• save any web pages in HTML, edit them in the integrated HTML Editor and preview them
• integrated tools needed to create your own structure of a logical and trusted system outside of your head
• display only the tasks, notes, to-do lists etc. you want to see at the moment by expanding them

Final Thoughts

It does look more polish than alot of the free desktop apps that i see, but its steep at USD 197 and i wonder with the coming of the mobile internet you should be paying that much for a standalone desktop app.

[Take a look @ Information Management Tool >>]

So far most of the To do List applications that i have been talking about seems to be revolving around the iPhone platform. Don’t worry i am not a fanboy, just that i used this device more than alot of others that i have come across with.

I actually started off using a to do list with Remember the Milk some time ago, so i do know abit on web task management.

This week i was given the opportunity to try out a Web To-Do application called GTD Agenda. GTD Agenda, as its name sounds is a task management application that attempts to be close to what David Allen have envisioned to help a person manages his task.

Pricing

Like ToodleDo or Remember The Milk, GTD Agenda is those web app that have different tier pricing. The free package gives you just about enough to try, but if you are going to run it as your main to do dashboard then i think its not gonna be enough.

You should be thinking about the Basic and the Premium

Using GTD Agenda

Most of the web apps nowadays would have an element that makes them compatible with GTD (or Stephen Covey) for the matter. The only web app that blatantly does not is Remember the Milk.

GTD Agenda’s strength is that it is constructed out with GTD in mind. For those that are new to this term you can check out this series of articles on what Getting Things Done is About.

What i like about the presentation of the interface is that it is more clean compare to apps like ToodleDo which is very cluttered. A clean interface enables the user to focus on what he should be occupied with at this moment.

The user can go about setting his 20000 feet to 50000 feet goals and visions under the goal tab

Notice that all the goals would need to below to a certain category.

After all these are defined you can get down to planning your projects. Projects can be linked to a particular goal. So that during review you are able to list out the projects that you will undertake to meet that goal.

With the goals and projects defined we have set up the basic infrastructure of our todo list. Whats left is to explore how we use it daily.

Suppose that a thought enters you head that you have an actionable task to perform or you are doing your daily mindsweep, you can enter the task one at a time through its easy to use interface.

By doing this, you will not bother about the Categories/Contexts and due dates, notes. A key difference between GTD Agenda and many of the other todo list applications is the absence of an Inbox when you work on tasks that have not been processed yet.

At times i would need to skim though all my tasks to identify those that i have not organized.

The task details is important and gives you a good idea how you can filter in your review and do it phase. The Context enables you to freely define whether you want it to be based on Location, Person or Something else. You can set 5 levels of priority and you have a check box to mark this as next action.

The repeating option is great. But most other todo list have this and they do provide for more flexibility like repeating on Thur,Sat and  Sun. Repeating is important to me and certainly is a good initiative here.

Reviewing

A good feature for GTD agenda is the ability to set Daily and Weekly Schedule. Before you go about doing your task you gotta plan what you want to do for that day. That would mean breaking your days down into chunks. This will give you a good marker what is planned out for that day so that you attempt to use each day to the fullest.

When it comes to actually making use of the task list to do work, you will always want to use a Next Action and GTD Agenda does provide that.

Else when you switch to another location or with a person that you might have things for you can make use of the contexts to bring up tasks related to the person.

If you would like to have a one stop shop where you can view key milestones or important events there is a calendar section for it too.

Mobile GTD Agenda

In this age and time, if a web application is not ubiquitous then its not really going to be useful. I try out the mobile version of it and i have to say its very good.

I am using an iPod Touch trying it out on the Safari browser. You can bascially review and add new task on your phone or pda now. The flaw is that you cannot use this offline on your mobile device.

Conclusion

Its a good package i feel and it certainly helps that if you are going to do GTD you might as well go for one that matches the work flow as close as it can. However, i think there could be some challenges for GTD Agenda as the free Web apps around are getting close to this capability. They would need to up their game if they really want to start differentiating themselves  from them.

Do give GTD Agenda a try by using the image url below

Overview

iPhone and iPod Touch have access to 100,000 application and the strength of this platform makes applications developed to be very user friendly and effective.

In this page, I will list out applications and how-to guides that will help a mobile worker increase his productivity and make life easier with his iPhone or iPod Touch

On the Go Reading/Reviewing/References

How to Read PDF books/references/magazines on your iPhone or iPod touch with [GoodReader]

For me by far the best thing to do on the go using an iPod Touch or iPhone have been reading and GoodReader is a cheap and very enjoyable way to read your favorite books. Endorsed by Productive Organizer.

Fast PDF Reader for your iPhone and iPod Touch [Fast PDF]

Here is an alternative to good reader that makes browsing PDF a breeze.

Reading Mobipocket,PDF,LIT,EPUB, DRM free Kindle books for free on your iphone or iPod with [STANZA]

The best reader on the App Store. FREE and enables you to read all your existing books. Endorsed by Productive Organizer.

Wordprocessing, Spreadsheet and Presentation

Office Word and Excel on the iPhone:[QuickOffice]

If you are looking for a Word processing and spreadsheet application then perhaps QuickOffice suite is for you.

Note Taking

Note Taking Software that Syncs to your Desktop OneNote Application: [MobileNoter]

If you are a die hard OneNote user and would like to have an application that syncs with your desktop OneNote Notebooks, and access it offline, then you should give this a try.

To Do List

[Appigo ToDo] Getting Things Done To Do List Review

By far one of the more expensive to do list software but its well worth the money you paid for this. Syncs with Remember the Milk or Toodledo, or Mac Desktop and follows David Allen’s Getting Things Done methods. Endorsed by Productive Organizer.

Simple Cheap GTD To Do List: [eToDo] Review

If Appigo ToDo is too complex or expensive for you, you can always go for the cheaper option eToDo. Just as good and great workout for a Getting Things Done beginner.

Nested GTD To Do List: [Action Lists] Review

A good competitor to Appigo ToDo. This does NESTED Subprojecting, Contexts and sync to ToodleDo.

Smart Calendar GTD To Do List: [2Do] Review

Here is an alternative to Appigo Todo for the iPhone and iPod Touch. What is great about it is that the Smart Calendars make executing tasks daily a breeze.

Others

Turn your iPhone /iPod Touch into a wireless keyboard mouse with [Touch Mouse]

Want to control your pc away from it through your iPhone and iPod Touch? Install this app. its FREE!

Keeping Passwords,logins and Key Information securely with [SplashID]

SplashID have been securing your vital information for a long time and here is a review on it.

Introduction

Are you looking for a software that enables you to access Microsoft OneNote on your iPhone? If you are then, MobileNoter is probably what you are looking for.

I think alot of folks out there really like to use Microsoft OneNote for note taking. For folks that want to keep research materials, or information pertaining to a project or a business object that they are working on, OneNote is the closes software you get to a real note book.

I personally think its one of the best products release by Microsoft and it should be bought as a stand alone application.

If you currently already have much information stored in OneNote and would like to access them from your iPhone or iPod Touch, MobileNoter can do the job.

Pricing

This is a subscription based service. The desktop and iphone application is FREE. But monthly subscription comes up to USD 1.25 per month.

iPhone Version reviewed

1.0

What does it do

MobileNoter is bascially a service that, for a small fee per month, allows you to sync selected notes to MobileNoter Server and enables 2 way sync with your iPhone Mobile Noter Software.

How to setup and how MobileNoter looks like after the break

[Read the rest of this entry...]

Part 1: My Plan and Overview of my GTD® System

In the first part I will briefly talk about why i use GTD and its contrast to Stephen Covey’s methods. You will be able to reference my GTD Workflow to understand how I carry out GTD.

Part 2: GTD® with IPod Touch 2G

In the second part of the series, I will bring readers through the tools that i have used while learning and practicing to be more productive.

You will find some really old and nice devices that i have come across such as Palm, MS Outlook and why i chose the IPod Touch 2G as my current GTD Tool

Part 3: GTD® with Appigo ToDo

Here, I will explain why Appigo ToDo for iPhone & iPod Touch is a good software to carried out GTD, with great features like Lists,Projects, Repeating Tasks, Online Synchronization to ToodleDo

Part 4: Plannning Projects & Sub Projects

How do you do big tasks assigned to you? What differentiates a sub-project from a task? Here, I go abit in-depth to how you can plan Projects and Sub-Projects in your Project Review and Project Planning with Appigo ToDo

Part 5: Contexts, Tags to Execute your tasks

Execution of tasks based on where you are, how much time you have and how important they are can be very tricky. Here, I will describe my thought process and take readers through which tasks are done when and what to do when tasks are interjected in the middle of things.

Part 6: Review Projects using iThoughts Mind Mapping software

Getting a general perspective about projects can be difficult with mobile todo list software. Here is a look to see if a mind mapping software called iThoughts is able to alleviate that concern.

Part 7: A good and thorough review of a great GTD App 2Do for iPhone and iPod Touch

Here is an alternative to Appigo Todo for the iPhone and iPod Touch. What is great about it is that the Smart Calendars make executing tasks daily a breeze.